Mole mapping

Do you have a lot of freckles or moles?

Have you spent a lot of time in the sun?

If so, you might be at risk for

skin cancer.

You’re even more at risk if you have a family history of skin cancer or if you’ve suffered from 3 or more blistering sunburns in your youth. In the last 50 years, incidence of melanoma—the deadliest form of skin cancer—have risen 1500%. Luckily, skin cancer is highly curable if caught early.

The cancer specialists at the University of Illinois Oncology Center have combined their renowned skin cancer expertise with the latest digital technology to identify and treat skin cancers before they become life threatening.

UIC is the only healthcare provider in the Midwest using the state-of-the-art Fotofinder digital epiluminescence microscopy system, which has skin scanning, mole mapping, and mole analysis capabilities. The system digitally maps skin lesions for long-term monitoring at regular intervals. NASA-developed algorithms enable software to diagnose melanomas with 93% accuracy. Fotofinder magnifies suspicious lesions to help physicians determine whether biopsy is needed.What Fotofinder does:

The Body Scan feature identifies new or changed lesions that have developed between regular scans.

The Tuebinger Mole Analyzer software—developed with NASA-developed algorithms at Germany’s renowned Tuebinger University—serves as a second opinion of sorts for our physicians. Using magnification, the software measures borders, textures and color variations of suspicious moles, then compares the data with that of thousands of melanoma images stored in the computer’s database. Though it’s no replacement for biopsy or the experience of our physicians, the Tuebinger analyzer diagnoses melanomas with 93% accuracy.

Who benefits:

Individuals with numerous moles and freckles

Individuals with asymmetrical pigmented lesions or lesions with irregular borders

Individuals with lesions in delicate areas, such as the face, who want to avoid biopsy if possible

Individuals who have a personal or family history of skin cancer

Individuals with dysplastic nevus syndrome

At this time most insurance companies do not classify this service as a payable procedure. Our current charge is $500 and is collected at the time of service. The physician visit before the procedure generally is covered by insurance. If a patient wishes, we will bill insurance on the patient’s behalf, provide a letter of necessity, and any collections from insurance will generate a patient refund of amounts already paid by the patient.